The leader of the English Defence League has been charged with obstructing police after allegedly trying to defy a ban on marching past a mosque to Woolwich.

Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court and was bailed to return on September 11.

The 30-year-old, from Luton in Bedfordshire, was arrested on suspicion of obstructing officers outside Aldgate East tube station in east London on June 29, along with his EDL co-leader Kevin Carroll.

Carroll was also charged after answering police bail and will appear in court on the same day.

They were attempting to stage what they claimed was a charity walk to Woolwich Barracks in south east London via the East London Mosque, allegedly in breach of police restrictions put in place to avoid "serious public disorder and serious disruption to the life of the community".

The force said it had offered two alternative routes that avoided Tower Hamlets, home to the mosque, and had warned that anyone who tried to march to Woolwich would face arrest.

As well as planning to lay flowers in memory of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich on Armed Forces Day, Robinson and Carroll said they were also walking to raise money for a young girl who has neuroblastoma, a cancer that develops from nerve cells.